The SAMFA Library was created in 2000, after the museum received a major gift from the Scripps Howard Foundation and other generous donors. In 2023, the library was moved from the first floor to the second floor, and a grant from the Bob and Doris Johnston Foundation--in memory of Bob and Doris Johnston, Ruth Johnston Lott, and Marilyn Johnston Mertz, founders of the museum--funded the remodeling of the space and the creation of a new reading area. The new Scripps-Howard Library and Bob and Doris Johnston Foundation Reading Room opened on March 13, 2025.
The library has approximately 4,000 titles and folders, including: books, general references of art history and architecture, an oral history of the first two decades of the museum and the Bill and Mary Cheek early Texas and Southwestern art archives. The library is primarily for research, and materials cannot be checked out. The library is open during regular museum hours.
Bill and Mary Cheek Collection Finding Aid
Emma Lee Moss Collection Finding Aid
Margaret Stites Collection Finding Aid
Margaret Tupper Collection Finding Aid
Other generous gifts in support of the library are from the following donors:
Bill and Mary Cheek
Perry and Marilyn Gragg
G. Weldon Sheffield
Massie Memorial Foundation
Mary Jean Magruder Keleher
Ella Ann Matney and John Gillet Hancock
Bill (W.H.) Earls
Trinity Ceramic Supply
John and Darlene Williams
Dr. Kenyon L. Wagner
Alvin and Patricia New
Mr. and Mrs. Edwin S. Mayer, Jr.
